Norton, Lincoln County eliminate Cherryville, advance to first-ever state tourney

Saturday

Jul 20, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 20, 2013 at 10:13 PM

Richard Walker

DENVER – Twice in the 2013 Area IV playoffs Lincoln County has faced elimination. And twice right-hander Justin Norton has pitched the Cardinals into the next round of the playoffs.

Saturday’s effort was clearly his best – and biggest – as it allowed Lincoln County to eliminate comeback-minded Cherryville and earn Post 455 its first-ever state tournament berth.

After falling behind early, Norton’s pitching and Danny Sullivan’s grand slam home run led the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over Cherryville at East Lincoln High School in the decisive fifth game of their North Carolina Area IV semifinal series.

The loss ended Cherryville’s record streak of Area IV titles at six years.

“He’s the man,” Lincoln County coach Bruce Bolick said of Norton, a recent North Lincoln High graduate who will be playing for Catawba Valley Community College next season. “Of course, Danny Sullivan’s the man too. They both came up big for us tonight.”

Norton, 4-0 in the playoffs and 6-1 on the season, spotted Cherryville a run in the third inning and had to wiggle out of same late-game jams, but finished with a 10-hitter and 10 strikeouts.

“He’s got a lot of heart, a lot of stuff and is an A number one Legion pitcher,” Bolick said of Norton, who also won the Game 5 clincher in a 3-2 opening-round series victory over Henderson County. “Justin’s as good a pitcher as I’ve had in Legion baseball.”

From the coach that started Lincoln County’s Post 455 program in 1990 and been its only coach in history, that’s quite a statement. So is advancing to the state tournament for the first time in team history – or in a season in which Lincoln County won its first-ever semifinal playoff games (in this series).

“I’ve been waiting for a long time for this,” said Bolick, whose team will meet the winner of the Shelby-Hickory semifinal series as early as Monday for the Area IV championship. “I recall being a first-year program and learning all the way. So this is really nice.”

Cherryville (18-15), which had taken consecutive one-run wins in Games 3 and 4 to force Saturday’s decisive contest, took Saturday’s first lead on Caleb Narron’s one-out RBI single in the third. Narron scored Hunter Jackson, who led off the inning with a single.

And Post 100 starter and loser Heath King (5-2) had held the Cardinals to three hits in four innings.

But Lincoln County (20-13) struck big and fast in the fifth.

J.T. Bowden and Clay Hodges opened the inning with singles, then Randal Ortiz was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Sullivan hit King’s 3-2 offering to deep left for the grand slam that made it 4-1.

“They scored four runs on one swing of the bat,” Cherryville coach Bobby Reynolds said. “That’s hard to overcome in a close series like this.”

But Post 100 did try to overcome it, even as Bradley Hallman’s sacrifice fly later in the fifth made it 5-1 Lincoln County and would pave the way for King to be relieved by Derrick Braun.

Braun held the Cardinals scoreless the rest of the way as Cherryville tried to chip away at the lead – and Norton’s pitching.

Clay Fuller’s two-run home run in the seventh cut the advantage to 5-3, then Brett Huff’s RBI grounder cut the lead to 5-4.

But Norton got a called strikeout to strand a runner on third to end the eighth and he retired the side in the ninth, getting the last out when catcher Bowden fielded a bunt and fired to first base.

“J.T. called me off and made the throw,” Norton said. “And it felt great.”

Sullivan’s two hits and four RBIs meant he finished the five-game series with Post 100 with 10 hits and 11 RBIs. Bryan Seymour’s three hits led Lincoln County’s 11-hit offense that also got two hits from Bowden.

For Cherryville, which loses only King, Braun and Tyler Shumaker from its 18-player roster, Shumaker, Caleb Narron, Dalton Towery and Hunter Jackson had two hits each.

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22